


reactions

by AslansCompass



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, not 6x04 compliant, rwby 6x03, the lost fable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-23 21:39:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16626908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AslansCompass/pseuds/AslansCompass
Summary: The team reacts to Jinn's revelations about Ozpin's past.





	1. Chapter 1

 

Ozpin knelt in the snow, shoulders slumped, headless of the snow soaking through his trousers. They knew. They knew. Gods help them, they knew. Why would they stay now? Team RWBY would abandon him, Qrow would go with his nieces, and Oscar--well, Oscar was stuck with him. Ozpin sighed, waiting for them to return.

Oscar's return felt like a hundred Grimm stuffed in a sack, trying to break out. Is this what it always felt like for them, his new hosts? _ **I'm sorry**_ , he whispered, letting the words roll around his skull. _**Sorry, sorry, sorry.**_

"Hey, Oz," Qrow was by his side. "Oz... what can I do? What should I do?"

He waited for Oscar to answer, but the boy didn't seem capable of answering at the moment. "Oscar and I need some time; will you excuse us?"

Qrow helped his old friend up. "Go inside and get warm. I'll keep an eye on the girls."

"Thanks," Ozpin said, pulling himself to his feet. He staggered off through the snow to the wrecked cars. Once inside, he shut the door behind them.

* * *

 

Outside, Ruby spoke first. "That---that--" Her voice trailed off. She bent over and picked up the Relic, now back in lamp form. "That wasn't right."

"What, specifically, are you talking about? Oz's secrets, Salem's history, or the fact that we've been fighting an immortal enemy?" Blake snapped.

"None of it," Ruby said. "None of that was right."

"You're telling me! All this stuff about honestly and no more lies? When was he planning on telling us this?" Yang flexed her mechanical arm. "Oh, right, never!"

"He had his reasons..." Qrow began, but Blake interrupted him.

"Reasons? Yeah, reasons. Same as the reasons I had for not telling anyone about the White Fang--I didn't want anyone to know how badly I screwed up! How my actions had led to disaster! It was my responsibility and I didn't want to admit it!" Blake screamed.

"You couldn't have changed what Adam did--" Yang said.

"No, but I could have tried harder to stop him!"

"But you did. At Haven---"

"Yes, at Haven. After he'd already destroyed countless lives. I didn't have anything to do with it--it was all the Faunus, working together, who stopped him. And they could only do that because I told the truth."

"That's different," Ruby tried, but Yang interrupted.

"Yeah, because Ozpin was still lying. He didn't tell us the truth about the Relic, he didn't tell us about the questions or how it attracts Grimm, and he didn't tell anyone the truth about Lionheart either!"

"Guys, come on, try to keep it together There's still Grimm out here," Qrow reminded them.

"Yeah, and whose fault it that?"

"There were Grimm before Salem!"

"Yeah, but people had magic then! it was different!" Yang said.

"What good would magic do against Grimm?"

"I don't know, but people were surviving!"

"Until they got destroyed!"

"And that wasn't the Grimm's fault either! It was Salem's."

"Looked more like the gods' fault to me!" Qrow muttered.

"So what, you want to fight them too?"

"Why not? They're clearly responsible for this mess!"

"I'm just saying---"

"Stop."

The whole team paused, trying to figure out who had spoken.

Maria cleared her throat. "Goodness, you sound like a flock of crows. Whatever Ozpin did or didn't do, that's not the point. Before you start pointing fingers, look around."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss had remained fairly quiet during the argument, but her response was brisk as ever.

"I was wrong." Ruby said. "I shouldn't have asked the question."

"Why?" Yang demanded.

Qrow raised an eyebrow. "Why would you say that, kiddo?"

"I should have asked Oz."

"He wouldn't have answered."

"Maybe not." Ruby looked at her feet. "But I hurt him."

* * *

 

**_Oscar? Oscar, are you still there?_ **

I don't want to talk to you.

_**Oscar--** _

I don't want to talk.

_**I know, but--** _

No! Go away. I wish we'd never met! I could be back home now, safe and sound! Instead, I'm in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by snow and mountains and Grimm and I'm not even alone in my own head!

Oz drew back. **_This was why I didn't want to tell you._**

Were you ever going to tell me?

_**Someday. Not like this. Not all at once. I couldn't lie forever.** _

You lied to me. To all of us.

**_Yes. I did._ **

Neither of them speaks for a few moments.

Did you love her?

Ozpin doesn't need clarification. **_Yes. Yes, I did. I loved the woman I rescued from the tower, the woman who was by my side as we journeyed and fought monsters. I loved her. I loved our children._**

What were their names?

**_Not today. Someday, I promise, I'll tell you every detail. How they laughed, what their favorite foods were, the first word and the first magic and all the happy days. But I have so few good memories from that time--let me keep them for now._ **

But Salem--

 ** _They died. I was wrong and they died. That's my guilt to bear. Not yours_**. Ozpin sighed.  _ **I never wanted to put anyone else at risk. Before---my previous hosts, they were older, more experienced...**_

So I'm an idiot?

_**No... but you're a child. And I never wanted another child to be hurt because of me.** _

 

What about the others? Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss? Aren't you going to talk to them?

 _ **Not yet.**_ ****Ozpin shakes his head. ** _I need to calm down first._**


	2. Chapter 2

Qrow paced back and forth,not looking anyone in the eye. He patrolled the perimeter of the crash site, watching for Grimm while the team picked through the wreckage. But he could only delay matters so long. He trudged up to the train carriage and tapped on the door. "Oz, are you alright? We should get going while there's still daylight."

  
No one answered.

  
"Oz?"  
"One moment," Oscar called from inside.

  
Qrow blew on his cupped hands, brushing snow from his gloves.

  
The door swung open. Oscar stood there, shoulders slumped. "He wants you to keep watch," he said to Qrow. "We're still heading for Atlas."  
  
\---  
That was the last thing Oscar--or Ospin--said all day. The boy hung back at the end of the group, occasionally helping Maria through a snowdrift or around a tree, but he seemed content to let Qrow lead. Yang pushed her cycle, leaving a compacted trail behind them. Ruby kept Crescent Rose open, even as its weight caught on bushes and brambles.

  
The first Grimm attack came a few hours later, when the blinding reflections on the snow faded to pale grey. A pack of Beowolves at least a dozen strong surprised them when they detoured from the tracks to go around a trestle bridge. Blake's ribbons stood stark against the snow, dark as the monsters themselves. Ruby leapt through the air, trusting Weiss to spot her with platforms.

  
A flock of Nevermores found them just as the sun went down, red eyes gleaming in the starlight. The commotion attracted a pack of Ursai, which nearly took Blake down when she missed one of Weiss's gylphs. By the time the fight was over, it was too late to go any further. The team gathered wood for a huge fire, hoping to scare off the monsters and stay warm.

  
They took turns on watch through the night. Maria took her exclusion from the roster in good faith, but Oscar was restless. He walked up to whoever was on duty, offered a hand, and then walked away again when nothing was said.

  
The next day was worse. They were attacked the moment the fire was out of view--not just Beowolves and Nevermores, but Griffons too. The Grimm came from all directions, surrounding the small party. The attacks flowed into each other, like tidal waves.

  
Around noon, the attacks let up for a bit. Qrow called a halt and lit another fire.

  
"We can't keep this up." He looked around the circle. Ruby and Weiss sat on his left, Blake and Yang on his right. Maria sat directly in front, with Oscar slightly off to one side. "I know we have a lot on our minds, but every Grimm in the country seems to be tracking us. And they'll keep doing this until we talk about it."

"I mean it," Qrow added, when none of them responded. "You wanted answers. Well, now you've got them. _No more secrets_." His mouth twisted wryly. "So, who's going first?"

Ruby slowly raised her hand.

"We're not in school, doofus," Yang snorted.

"Yang," Qrow warned. "Ruby, did you have something to say?"

"Yeah....what was Ozpin scared of? I get that we only have one question now, and the Relic is really important, but when I asked--" she paused, trying to sort out her thoughts. "He was scared. Really scared, worse than Grimm. But what was so scary about his past?"

"You mean besides the gods destroying all of humanity?" Yang rolled her eyes. "Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that we can't kill Salem? That she's frickin' immortal? He's been fighting her for centuries--what are we supposed to do?" 

"I don't think--" Blake began.

"You forgot the part where they might come back and wipe us out again," Weiss said. No one could tell if she was sarcastic or straightforward.

"And that's what we're trying to stop!" Ruby protested. "We have to keep heading to Atlas."

"Right, because headmasters have proved so reliable in the past. How do we know Ironwood won't sell us out like Lionheart did?"

"I don't think--"

"Guys!"

Everyone turned to look at Oscar. It was Oscar in control, there was no doubt about that, but shouting was out of character for him.

"Oscar?" Ruby asked.

"He's not afraid. Ozpin's not afraid. He's hurt."

"Hurt, how?" Qrow knelt by the boy.

"We've been--I've been--thinking about it. I used to do it a lot on the farm; read one chapter, one page of a book, and think about it all day. While I fed the horses, pulled weeds, scrubbed dishes--all that time, just thinking about the words, what they meant, who said them. " Oscar paused for breath. "You didn't listen. The god told him that he wouldn't be alone. But that doesn't meant it didn't hurt."

Oscar looked around the circle, trying to meet their eyes. They had to understand. They all knew what Jinn had said, but only he knew how Ozpin felt. "Everyone dies. Everyone he knows, everyone he meets; they die. And he keeps going. He has to." No, it wasn't working. How could he explain? "You've all lost someone. Ruby, do you remember when your mum died?"

Ruby nodded, lips pressed together.

"And you had people to help you. Your dad, Qrow, Yang. People who knew her and could remember her."

"Yes."

"He doesn't have that.  He's seen so many people die for so long. There's no one left who remembers them. Just him."

"Then why didn't he tell someone?" Yang challenged.

 _ **How do you tell children about Grimm?**_ Ozpin said to Oscar.  _**Ask them that.**_

Oscar repeated the question aloud.

"You don't," Qrow answered. "Not in detail. They'll learn about monsters soon enough."

"I'm not a little kid," Yang protested.

"I used to say that to my parents," Blake sighed. "But they just said that parents always want to protect their children, no matter how old they get."

"That's what Oz said. That he didn't want any more children hurt because of him." Oscar said.

"But he's headmaster of Beacon.... or was... is..." Weiss gave up trying to reference Ozpin's position. "He taught hundreds of Huntersmen and Huntresses over the years."

"The Grimm weren't going to leave us alone. People need to defend themselves. Speaking of which," Qrow looked around. "Where'd they go?"

The rest of the team followed his lead. "Did they just... leave?" Weiss asked.

"Well, I think that did the trick, then," Maria said. "We should keep moving, I expect."

 


End file.
